Turkey’s Erdogan to visit Turkmenistan

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make an official trip to Turkmenistan from Dec. 11 to 12, Russian news agency RIA Novosti has reported citing Bloomberg.

This is the second country that Erdogan visits after the parliamentary election, won by the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The first country visited by Erdogan after the election was Azerbaijan.

Earlier, Erdogan cancelled his visit to Turkmenistan, scheduled for Oct. 12, due to a terrorist attack in Ankara.

Vladimir Sotnikov, senior researcher at the International Security Center of Russian Sciences Academy's World Economy and International Relations Institute, believes that Erdogan's visit to Turkmenistan could be linked to Turkey's attempts to diversify gas supplies on the backdrop of strained relations with Russia.

"I think Erdogan will try to reach an agreement on participation in gas projects in Turkmenistan. In any case, this is very important for Turkey, at a time when such cooperation with Russia is actually paralyzed," he said.

However, the expert noted that so far it is impossible to say whether the Turkish president will achieve success in the supposed gas talks in Ashgabat.

"It is hard to say," noted Sotnikov. "Everything will depend on what Erdogan will be ready to offer."

"In any case, Turkmenistan has enough gas to sell it only under the most beneficial contracts," said the expert, noting that Ankara is unlikely to get favorable offer on supply conditions in Turkmenistan.